[Talk-us] Anyone ever talked about adding more Land Ownership data to OSM?

[derrick nehrenberg]

Hi All,

Thanks for everyones thoughts.

It seems like the majority consensus is that the US Land Ownership (or
management data) doesn't belong in the OSM database. So, I guess I won't be
adding it.

I will say that US Forest Service Managed Land is already widely included
in OSM data, but people here are arguing that it doesn't apply to other
types of Land Ownership (or management) data. Aslo, in my experience Land
Management boundaries hardly ever change. Furthermore, Land Management
boundaries are very often well demarcated and verifiable on site.

And, I am by no means an OSM expert, but I would encourage more
consideration about the utility of OSM data when viewed on mobile devices
when a user is mobile, now and in the future, because for me and a lot of
other users that is where a map's rubber hits the road.

In the US West, Land Management data is one of the most critical pieces of
info a user needs to see represented when mobile, for it is often the only
answer to myriad questions (e.g. can I hunt here, can I bike here, am I
trespassing). How is a user supposed to ascertain this if he is crossing an
"imaginary" line between two physically demarcated boundary points that can
only be accurately represented by a map vector line on a mobile map. And,
since Federally and State managed lands are typically exclusive to remote
areas, they are hardly going to interfere with other types of data. Yes,
the US Federal Government Land Management data can be problematic (what
large-scale data doesn't have that quality), which is actually
an argument for why it should be crowdsourced, in my opinion.

And, finally it seems that "techy" people are apt to neglect to see the
benefit of certain features that are often needed most by "non-techy"
 people because the features needed most are simply not apart of their
everyday experience. *Most* of the western US lands are Managed by some
type of Federal or State Agency, and unless you live or travel a lot
outdoors in the West, I can see how it would be difficult to understand why
this data can be so critical and why it could actually be a prime candidate
for the OSM crowdsourcing tool chest.

If anyone has any further arguments for why US Land Ownership (or
management) data isn't or is a good candidate for OSM crowdsourcing, I
would definitely be very interested in hearing that.

Anyways, thanks for everyones' responses. They were most helpful. I am
continually amazed by the energy and thought people give to the OSM
project.

Cheers,

derrick

On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 5:00 AM, <talk-us-request at openstreetmap.org> wrote:

> Re: [Talk-us] Anyone ever talked about adding more Land
>         Ownership data to OSM?
>
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